Spider-Girl leaps into action

Spider-Man is getting a female ally in his fight to combat evil amid the skyscrapers of New York.

Fans who pick up the next Spidey comic book will find the wall-crawling crimefighter has been given a helping hand in the form of Spider-Girl.

May Parker, Spider-Girl's alter ego, is actually the secret daughter of Peter Parker who became Spider-Man after he was bitten by a radioactive spider.

The female Spidey has all the same powers as her father, but with the added attraction - for male fans - of an hour-glass female figure squeezed into her tight spider web costume.

With Tomb Raider star Lara Croft currently leading the way in the female hero stakes, bosses at Marvel are predicting that Spider-Girl can be an equally big hit with Spidey readers.

'Spider-Girl is obviously attractive to male readers, but she is also the perfect heroine for females,' said a Marvel spokesman. 'She is young and strong and mysterious and we have found that has already gained her a very loyal fan base.

'Spider-Girl has now been given a big new comic book series of her own. The possibilities for the character are endless - maybe even a movie.'

The shock makeover is just the latest big change for Spider-Man who was recently kitted out in a new garish redand-gold suit to help bring him up to date.

The latest Spider-Man 3 movie, being filmed with stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, will also see the character in a snazzy black suit.

'The rivalry between Marvel, who make Spider-Man and X-Men, and DC Comics, who do Superman and Batman, is intense,' says comic book expert Elliot James.

'Spider-Girl has been designed to be sexy and appealing to a new younger audience and keep people interested in comics and superheroes,' he added.

The Amazing Spider-Girl comic will launch in October with a full-colour story of how May inherited her father's powers and came to be a crimefighter.

The news comes two months after Metro revealed that DC Comics is introducing the first ever lesbian comic superhero - Batwoman.